A fresh wave of violence tore the fragile calm in Manipur after protestors demanded the unconditional release of Ashem Kanan Singh, leader of the armed Meitei outfit Arambai Tenggol. Singh, a former head constable whose service was terminated this March, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation at Imphal airport on June 8 for his involvement in various criminal activities linked to the 2023 Manipur violence.
Clashes with the security forces across several districts of the Imphal valley and roadblocks that followed his arrest come on the heels of severe flash floods that have affected over about 56,000 people. The unrest has led to the imposition of curfew across five valley districts of Manipur along with the suspension of mobile internet services for five days.
The state has been grappling with deadly violence since May 2023, when clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki communities during a tribal solidarity march in the areas bordering Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts to protest the Meiteis’ demand for scheduled tribe status. Manipur has been on the boil since then, with very brief periods of peace marred by sanguinary violence.
Former Union Home Secretary, Ajay Bhalla, a retired IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was appointed Governor of Manipur this January to help assuage a society deeply divided on the issue of ethnic identity and dominance. Former Chief Minister Biren Singh resigned in February after his tenure became untenable and Manipur was placed under the President’s rule on February 13.
Despite the political rearrangements, the state continues to bleed on a razor’s edge of distrust. The conflict has torn apart its rich mosaic of diversity, with ethnic communities asserting their space and identity over the resource-rich landscape. The demands for ST status by the Meiteis, and for an even distribution of resources, equal representation and separate administration or state for their tribal areas by the Kukis have deepened the ethnic faultline.
The conflict has claimed hundreds of lives, displaced around 60,000 people, bled the economy and led to a mass exodus. Manipur needs a healing hand, with a trustworthy and strong-willed political solution that opens communication lines between the warring ethnic factions. Peace will return with a cohesive law and order situation and economic development. Any short-sighted patchwork can be even more damaging.